Four ‘Lion’s Den’ leaders surrender to Palestinian Authority in Nablus

Lion’s Den members pray during the funeral of their comrade Tamer Kilani who was killed in an explosion in Nablus, October 2022

Jack Khoury reports in Haaretz on 27 October 2022:

Four senior members of the “Lion’s Den” organization in Nablus surrendered on Wednesday evening to the Palestinian Authority, according to sources in the West Bank city.

The militants, members of a loose affiliation of young Palestinian men, have reached an agreement with the PA after engaging in negotiations over their activities.

According to local sources, the four are Yaish al-Hafi, Mahmoud al-Bana, Mujahad Aqub and Imad Jawara – believed to be some of the most prominent members of the organization.

The militants had been engaged in negotiations with Palestinian security officials and, once an agreement was reached, they surrendered. In a recording published in Nablus, in which one of al-Bana’s friends can be heard, it appears that al-Bana decided to surrender to the PA because he is his family’s only remaining son.

According to Palestinian security officials who spoke to Haaretz, the extradition proves that one group of youngsters or another, even if they name themselves “Lion’s Den,” cannot really deal with the IDF on the organizational level.

Furthermore, the extradition sends a message to Israel that if the PA are given room to work, it is possible to deal with the “Lion’s Den” not only by force. The assessment in Nablus is that if the relative peace in the city continues in the near future, the PA will be able to convince more and more young people who are engaged in these militant activities to join its ranks and lead a normal life.

The “Lion’s Den” is a secular and unorganized cell consisting primarily of young Palestinian men. Israeli security officials believe that the group consists of people who had previously been members of other groupings and that a series of events led them to ‘rebrand’ themselves as the “Lion’s Den.”

Earlier Wednesday, two “Lion’s Den” militants were arrested by Israeli authorities in Nablus. One of the suspects is Iyad al-Nabulsi, the brother of Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, a senior “Lion’s Den” member who was killed in August during a military operation, said Israeli forces.

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